Form 990 for tax year 2023

Totals

Total revenue

$292,659

Total expenses

$641,103

Contributions and grants received

$285,825

Grants paid

$0

Program service revenue

$0

Investment income

$5,268

Other revenue

$1,566

Total assets, end of year

$258,483

Total liabilities, end of year

$5,881

Net assets or fund balances, end of year

$252,602

Program services expenses (Part IX)

$480,240

Management and general expenses

$107,334

Fundraising expenses

$53,529

Program service expenses (Part III)

$480,240

Program services were 74.9% of total expenses calculated — Part IX's program-services column over total expenses, both as filed.

Line items

Every line the filer filed in Parts VIII, IX and X, as filed and in filed order. Blank columns are left out, and the lines are not forced to add up to the totals above.

Mission and programs · 2023

• FELLOWSHIP:THE PURPOSE OF THE ROOTS OF PROGRESS FELLOWSHIP IS TO ACCELERATE THE CAREERS OF PROGRESS INTELLECTUALS.WE LAUNCHED OUR FIRST PROGRAM, THE BLOG-BUILDING INTENSIVE, IN JULY, AND GOT ALMOST 500 APPLICATIONS. IN THE END, 19 FELLOWS PARTICIPATED IN THE PROGRAM, WHICH INVOLVED WRITING INSTRUCTION, EDITORIAL FEEDBACK, TRAINING IN AUDIENCE-BUILDING, AND A PEER GROUP FOR BRAINSTORMING AND FEEDBACK.SEVERAL OF THE FELLOWS LAUNCHED SUBSTACKS UNDER THEIR OWN NAME AND BRAND FOR THE FIRST TIME, HAVING PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN ONLY FOR OTHER PUBLICATIONS OR FOR THEIR EMPLOYERS. AND ON AVERAGE, THEY WROTE MORE THAN TWICE AS MUCH DURING THE INTENSIVE AS THEY HAD EARLIER IN THE YEAR.WRITING:FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT JASON CRAWFORD WROTE 35 ESSAYS FOR OUR BLOG, TOTALLING OVER 65K WORDS. HIS LONGEST, MOST IN-DEPTH PIECES WERE: "WHAT IF THEY GAVE AN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND NOBODY CAME?" A REVIEW OF THE BRITISH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE, BY ROBERT ALLEN "CAN SUBMARINES SWIM?" WHICH DEMYSTIFIES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE "IF YOU WISH TO MAKE AN APPLE PIE, YOU MUST FIRST BECOME DICTATOR OF THE UNIVERSE, OR: WILL AI INEVITABLY SEEK POWER? "WHO REGULATES THE REGULATORS?" ARGUING THAT WE NEED TO GO BEYOND THE REVIEW-AND-APPROVAL PARADIGMOTHER THAN THAT, THE MOST POPULAR PIECES (BY VIEWS ON THE BLOG AND UPVOTES ON OTHER FORUMS) WERE: "WHY NO ROMAN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION?" "WHY DIDN'T WE GET THE FOUR-HOUR WORKDAY?" "THE COMMISSION FOR STOPPING FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS": A LETTER OF NOTE FROM ISAMBARD K. BRUNEL, CIVIL ENGINEER "HOW TO SLOW DOWN SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS," ACCORDING TO LEO SZILARD. SEVERAL OF THIS YEAR'S ESSAYS WERE "WHAT I'VE BEEN READING," WHICH CRAWFORD MADE INTO A QUASI-MONTHLY FEATURE. HE ALSO PUT OUT 35 ISSUES OF THE "LINKS DIGEST", ON A SCHEDULE WHICH VARIED FROM WEEKLY TO MONTHLY. IN TOTAL HE RECOMMENDED WELL OVER 1,000 LINKS AND INCLUDED 139 CHARTS AND IMAGES.OVERALL WE HAD 134K VISITORS TO ROOTSOFPROGRESS.ORG, AND OUR EMAIL NEWSLETTER GREW MORE THAN 2.4X, TO OVER 18K SUBSCRIBERS.TALKS AND INTERVIEWS:CRAWFORD ALSO GAVE ABOUT A DOZEN PUBLISHED TALKS AND INTERVIEWS, INCLUDING: "REMEMBER THE PAST TO BUILD THE FUTURE," RECORDED AT FORESIGHT INSTITUTE'S VISION WEEKEND 2022 AND PUBLISHED IN JANUARY A TALK TO THE INSTITUTO MILLENIUM IN BRAZIL, WITH ABOUT 80 PEOPLE ATTENDING LIVE: "TOWARD A NEW PHILOSOPHY OF PROGRESS" INFINITE LOOPS PODCAST WITH JIM O'SHAUGHNESSYHE ALSO SPOKE IN SEVERAL PRIVATE VENUES, INCLUDING: THE SANTA FE INSTITUTE, AT A WORKSHOP ON "ACCELERATING SCIENCE." HE ALSO WROTE UP THE TALK AS AN ESSAY. THE TAKSHASHILA INSTITUTE IN BANGALORE. HE SPOKE FIRST IN PERSON TO A GROUP OF A COUPLE DOZEN OF THEIR SCHOLARS, AND LATER ADDRESSED OVER 200 STUDENTS TAKING THEIR GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN PUBLIC POLICY VIA ZOOM STRIPE, WHERE HE GAVE AN INTERNAL TECH TALK. HE GAVE A CONDENSED VERSION OF THE TALK AT FORESIGHT VISION WEEKEND 2023 AN ASTRAL CODEX TEN / LESSWRONG MEETUP IN BANGALORE, WHERE HE DISCUSSED PROGRESS WITH SOME 30 OR 40 ATTENDEESFINALLY, HE WAS BRIEFLY QUOTED IN A YEAR-END REVIEW IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR.THE ORIGINS OF STEAM POWER:THE ORGANIZATION SPONSORED AN ESSAY ON THE PRE-HISTORY OF THE STEAM ENGINE, WITH INTERACTIVE ANIMATED DIAGRAMS. IT CAN BE FOUND AT HTTPS://BLOG.ROOTSOFPROGRESS.ORG/STEAM-ENGINE-ORIGINSTHE PROGRESS FORUM:THE ORGANIZATION CONTINUES TO SPONSOR THE PROGRESS FORUM, THE ONLINE HOME FOR THE PROGRESS COMMUNITY. IT IS A DISCUSSION FORUM FOR EVERYTHING RELATED TO PROGRESS.

  Expenses $480,240

As filed on the 2023 return. The filer continues this part on Schedule O, which is not shown here.

Listed in Part VII

Compensation is as filed in Part VII: reportable pay from this organization and from related organizations, other compensation, and hours per week. The total, marked calculated, is our sum of the three dollar columns, with a blank column counted as $0; the form itself has no total. On a Form 990-EZ the columns are Part IV's instead, and on a Form 990-PF Part VIII's — compensation, contributions to benefit plans, and expense account — and the total sums those. A Schedule J breakdown is as filed: base pay, bonus, other, deferred compensation and nontaxable benefits from this organization, with any from related organizations beside each, and the filer's own total. It is shown with the Part VII listing of the same name on the same return. The form gives no key between the two, so that pairing is ours, and is marked matched by us.

Schedule J

Part I's answers as filed. A line not listed was left unanswered; on lines 1a and 3 that means the box was not checked.

Grants on this return

No itemized grants to organizations on this return.

Provenance

Return type

form_990

Tax year

2023

Filed

8 November 2024

IRS schema version

2023v5.1

Source object

202433169349302813

Check it against the return as filed: the GivingTuesday Data Lake hosts a public copy of the original XML.

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